{"id":50033149,"date":"2020-01-31T16:04:42","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T16:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.dialogochino.net\/?p=33149"},"modified":"2022-11-15T15:18:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T15:18:39","slug":"33149-rio-carnival-made-in-china-chinese-party-products-proliferate-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"photo_story","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/uncategorized\/33149-rio-carnival-made-in-china-chinese-party-products-proliferate-in-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"Rio Carnival made in China: Chinese party products proliferate in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feathers, fabrics, glitter, lace, and sequins\u2026 a multitude of materials make up Rio de Janeiro\u2019s colourful Carnival. Every year, Rio\u2019s percussion groups and samba schools attract global attention. The products revellers use to decorate themselves create a uniquely Brazilian scene, but they come from the other side of the world.<\/p>\n

“About 20 years ago, when I started in this business, things were not like this. It was more mixed. Now, everything is from China”, explains Jorge Francisco, also known as Chiquinho<\/em>.<\/em> He owns Babado da Folia, a chain of stores and leading supplier of Rio Carnival products.<\/p>\n

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$10 million<\/p>\n

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\nthe value of carnival-related products that Brazil imported from China in 2019 (US$)
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Products from a reforming China<\/a> began arriving in Brazil<\/a> in 1990. Trade relations took on new impetus after the two countries signed a strategic cooperation agreement<\/a> three years later. In 1998, approximately US$656,000 worth of party goods and Carnival paraphernalia were imported from China. By last year, this number had soared to over US$10 million, not including fabric and lace.<\/p>\n

Chinese materials, much of which are plastics and end up discarded, are heavily present in the celebrations.<\/p>\n

Saara (below) is the shopping hub for\u00a0Rio\u2019s celebrations. From December to February, its narrow streets teem with people hunting for good deals. Dayana Chang, a manager of at the Festa da Cidade store, said: “In recent years we have really focused on Carnival, I would say it\u2019s the highest point of the year. I start buying things for Carnival in August.”<\/p>\n

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\"Saara
Saara is Rio's main shopping district for carnival costumes. (Image: Vinicius Fontana)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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At the end of the 1990s, Mexico was the main supplier of party and Carnival goods to Rio, with China in fifth place. But lower import costs and closer political and trade ties, as well as the more recent consolidation of the BRICS nations<\/a>, has led to an exponential increase in the flow of Chinese-made Carnival trinkets.<\/p>\n

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\"Feathers
Feathers and beads are among the Chinese-made products sold at costume shops in Rio (image: Sarita Reed)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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Another reason for the growth in imports is the change to the way Rio Carnival is organised. Until the year 2000, Carnival festivities were confined to the Sambadrome (below), parades and dances in clubs. Since then, spontaneous celebrations with neighbourhood percussion groups known as blocos<\/em><\/a>, or blocks, have returned to the streets. This significantly boosted the costume market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Rio's
In 2018, samba school Imp\u00e9rio Serrano payed tribute to China in its parade (image: Fernando Grilli\/Riotur)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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According to municipal tourism agency Riotur, the 2019 Carnival season will officially last 50 days and include 543 percussion blocks. More than 1.9 million tourists are expected alongside local revellers \u2013 and almost all these people want to decorate themselves. All in all, the 2020 Carnival in Rio is expected to generate R$ 4 billion (almost US$1 billion).<\/p>\n

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\"Carnival
Elaborate costumes are also common in Rio\u2019s spontaneous street parties (image: Gabriel Monteiro)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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The main Chinese products used in the samba schools are fabric, cosmetic gems and rhinestones, ribbons, ornamental trimmings, and feathers, according to Marcus Paulo of Acad\u00e9micos da Rocinha, a member of the Carnival Commission of Unidos da Tijuca, one of Rio\u2019s top samba schools. “Chinese materials are widely used, for the same reasons as in other industrial areas: good prices coupled with a variety of products. They were already present in the domestic sector, but their lower prices conquered the market,” he explains.<\/p>\n

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\"carnival
Plastic gems and rhinestones, which are mostly imported from China, are an environmental problem at Rio Carnival. (Image: Sarita Reed)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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In the Baque Mulher group\u2019s maracatu<\/em> procession in the Santa Teresa neighbourhood, sequins, glitter, and fabrics are also feature in the celebrations, which emerged in Pernambuco and merge African, indigenous and Portuguese cultures to be uniquely Brazilian.<\/p>\n

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\"Baque
Single-use plastic bottles and cups are commonly sold and discarded on the streets during Rio\u2019s carnival (image: Sarita Reed)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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Yet this immense party generates inevitable environmental concerns. In the samba schools, it is a tradition to reuse materials. “Today, there is already an awareness that waste should be avoided, whether for economic or ecological reasons,” says Helenise Guimar\u00e3es, of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro’s School of Fine Arts.<\/p>\n

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\"carnival
Abandoned costumes at Rio Carnival (image: Walter Firmo \/ BrazilPhotos<\/span><\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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Trash is serious problem. The Favorita block, which marked the official opening of Rio Carnival on 12 January, brought together more than 300,000 people. According to Rio\u2019s municipal Urban Sanitation Company, more than 48 tonnes of rubbish was collected the following day from the famous Copacabana beach (below). Last year, a total of 1,227 tonnes was collected throughout the Carnival period, which this year runs from the February 21-25.<\/p>\n

There are no statistics on how much of this waste is plastic, the use of which is one of today\u2019s great environmental challenges. But Brazil is already the fourth<\/a>-largest producer of plastic waste in the world.<\/p>\n

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\"The
The Favorita block at Copacabana beach brought together thousands of carnival partygoers who left behind tonnes of waste. (Image: Vinicius Fontana)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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Another issue is animal welfare. The use of feathers in Carnival is controversial, and closely linked to Chinese supply of materials for costumes<\/a>. For example, all the feathers sold in the chain of Babado da Folia stores come from China. For the most part, the stores import feathers belonging to exotic birds such as pheasants and peacocks.<\/p>\n

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\"Jorge
Jorge Francisco shows off the feathers he buys from China to sell at his store during carnival (image: Vin\u00edcius Fontana)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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Not all waste is so easy to collect. Synthetic glitter, again mostly imported from China, cannot be recycled. A good part of this material that contains microplastics will end up in the oceans<\/a>. Rio\u2019s Guanabara Bay is one of the places with the highest concentration<\/a> of microplastics in the world, according to the Pontifical University of Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

However, there are alternatives like bioglitter, which is almost entirely produced by small Brazilian companies.<\/p>\n

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\"biodegradable
Rio-based company Pura Bioglitter makes biodegradable glitter (image: Pura Bioglitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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Luciana Duarte, a partner at Pura Bioglitter<\/a>, a Rio-based company that has been producing biodegradable glitter since 2017, sees the product as an alternative to Chinese-made plastic products. \u201cOur product is handmade,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Com um body, uma pochete e MUIIIITO brilho biodegrad\u00e1vel, a @sthefany_gomes j\u00e1 t\u00e1 mais que pronta pra curtir o role! \u2728 Vem com o brilho da Pura, o \u00fanico que voc\u00ea pode caprichar na make sem dar close errado com o planeta! Esse carnaval, vamos fazer a diferen\u00e7a? \u2728???????? . . @sthefany_gomes veste glitter azul, ros\u00e9 e hologr\u00e1fico Foto by @juliaassisfotografia . #glitterbiodegradavel #bioglitter #purabioglitter #ecoglitter #glittersustentavel #maquiagemdecarnaval #maquiagemdeglitter #glittermakeup #glitterismyfavoritecolor<\/a><\/p>\n

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